Facebook Unveils Home For Android

Facebook announced today its new Android app called Home that will be available for download on April 12. Home will also come preinstalled on a new phone from HTC called the First. The First goes on sale April 12 for $99.99.

Facebook's goal with Home is to make social connections the primary part of your phone, not apps.

The main screen is a social feed called "Cover Feed" that has updates and photos from your friends.

When you turn on your phone, you'll see a moving slide show of large, rich images from your Facebook friends. You also see status updates from your friends and can comment on them without opening a separate app.

Cover Feed also lets you read and respond to comments from the home screen.

From Cover Feed, there's an app launcher at the bottom of the screen that lets you access your other apps.

It looks like this:

Facebook

You can also send Facebook messages while using any other app with a feature called "Chat Heads."

For example, if you get a new text or Facebook message, your friend's Facebook photo pops in front of whatever app your using and you can respond without leaving your app.

Here's what Chat Heads look like:

Facebook

How do you get Home on your Android phone?

If you're using Android, just open up the regular Facebook app. You'll be prompted to install Home directly from the regular Google Play Store for apps. It will also work on tablets, but that version won't be ready at launch. Facebook said it will update Home about once a month with the latest features.

Here's what it looks like on tablets:

Facebook

Manufacturers and carriers can also sign on to include Facebook Home on devices right out of the box. HTC and AT&T will be the first companies to do this.